DNA Testing - know the In's and Out's of it. Genetic Genealogy, a new branch of genealogy combining genetics and traditional genealogy research, is the most accurate tool for the family historian. Family connections can be proven or disproven. DNA testing can support a paper trail which is often in question given the lack of surviving records. Its popularity grows daily with thousands testing monthly throughout the world.

17 November 2012

The last day always seems to come so quickly. There never seems a great deal of time to chat with fellow genealogists so getting to bed late and up early does keep some of us non-morning people dragging a bit! But the excitement of the day is as good as a cup of coffee!

Alice Fairhurst

Sunday morning was our usual International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) meeting. Alice Fairhurst spoke on the ISOGG Y-DNA tree which started in 2006. There are now over 2,000 SNPs on the tree. The first few years there were 25-30 updates per year; last year over 100. There are already 73 updates this year so far and that number is that low only because the team clustered some of the updates. Many people in many countries are involved in helping, but they could use more. They need help in Q and some other areas. Due to Geno 2.0 ISOGG tree is going to a stronger database, but will remain the same through December 2012. The next tree may not be ready in January, however. Although there is a conversion chart, the new tree will only use terminal SNPs. Some R1b sub-clades are over 20 letters and numbers, and with Geno they will be much too long. This ISOGG tree is used by geneticists around the world.

Dr. Brian Swann

Brian Swann from England gave great information and encouragement in his presentation suggesting that people with British genealogy learn how British records work and use them to find probable testers and reconstitute the families. He stressed checking the 1881 census, the 2055-2006 Birth, Marriage, and Death records now online, and checking for your surname through the Guild of One Name Studies. There are online databases for the UK from 1837-1841 could be a good resource, as well. Debbie Kennett’s new book Origins of British Surnames can be helpful. Facebook can also be a good source for current contacts. Join the local family history societies in areas of interest in Britain. Dr. Swann urged that as half the people in Britain who have children do not marry, now is the time to start the reconstruction as it will be more difficult in the future.

Dr. Doron Behar

Dr. Doron Behar spoke on the mtCommunity, referring to his paper: A Copernican Reassessment of the Human mtDNA Tree from its Roots. He states that about 16,000 mtDNA sequences on NCBI’s (National Center for Biotechnology Information) GenBank are from Family Tree DNA customers. He explained that Chimps are not our ancestor, but when through 6,000 years of evolution and are our contemporaries. Neanderthals were extinct only 30,000 years ago. Some of our species interacted with the Neanderthals, we did not evolve from them. Mankind did not evolve as you see in many online posters. Dr. Behar’s paper clearly shows that using the rCRS (Revised Cambridge Reference System) gives a skewed vision as more western Europeans have fewer mutations than those of other world areas. With his paper reconstructing the mtDNA comparison starting with the root and adding such populations as the Neanderthal, we see that there are now fewer mutations for those populations closer to the root and more mutations for those farther from the root which is much more logical. This new method is termed RSRS (Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence). With the RSRS, all contemporary mtDNA shows approximately the same number mutations from the root…again, more logical. This change has no effect on the mtDNA tree topology or haplogroup labels. It will only add or subtract to the number of mutational differences when compared to the root mtDNA.See the mtDNACommunity website which has over 13,700 full mtDNA sequences so far and is a centralized database allowing sequences to be posted for scientists. You can add yours. It is free to all testers from all communities, but only uses complete mtDNA sequences; the full mitochondrial tests. Each sequence not from FTDNA will be verified for accuracy before uploading. You will be asked if you want to upload to NCBI so check the option if you do, and FTDNA will upload for you. If you have already uploaded to NCBI do not do it a second time so you are not duplicated. You can send your CBI to FTDNA to check. Once you upload your NCBI submission number will be on your profile page.

Dr. Michael Hammer

Bonnie Schrack

Dr. Michael Hammer of the University of Arizona presented the most exciting news of the conference! Dr. Hammer’s presentation was entitled A highly Divergent Y Chromosome Lineage; Implications for Human Evolution and the Y Chromosome Tree. Bonnie Schrack, citizen scientist, gave us the back story and suggested that haplotypes that do not fit into the main groups can be gold, and that rare haplotypes can identify new clades. She found three people in her Y-DNA Haplogroup A project who did not have any designated haplogroup. After consulting some papers by Cruciani (2011) and Batini (2011), the decision was made to do a Walk The Y (WTY) for one of the members living in Georgia. More than 40 new SNPs were found with this test, setting a new record. It also included 32 SNPs discovered by Cruciani in is A1b sample. A second WTY was done with another member of her project in Maryland. For this tester about 24 new SNPs were found, but he shared 18 of Cruciani’s SNPs and 19 of the SNPs found in the tester from Georgia, and 22 new SNPs for his branch. A third WTY, a candidate from South Carolina, tested negative for all the SNPs previously tested in the other two testers.
At this point, Dr. Michael Hammer was brought into the picture. Over 50 SNPs were derived from this South Carolina sample and about 30 which are ancestral and derived from all other human Y lineages. Dr. Hammer had seven SNPs matching the WTY testers and these were found in a small section of Western Cameroon. These new results put the Chimp and Gorilla very distant to modern humans. Hammer stated that the South Carolina tester who now has a haplogroup of A00 (currently the oldest haplogroup) is 500 years from his Cameroonian A00 cousin, and that the Atlantic slave trade brought his ancestor to the US. This discovery predates the origin of modern human fossils, and this tester’s line could be an archaic population. Two fossils found at Iwo Eleru (in nearby Nigeria) dated ~13,000 years ago showed archaic features.

Dr. Thomas Krahn

Dr. Thomas Krahn shared the story of the discovery as he worked with his wife Astrid to see if each newly found SNP had been previously discovered. After working all day and night, at 4 a.m. they realized they had new haplogroups. By 6 a.m. they were done checking all the new SNPs. As a result we no longer have just Haplogroup A, thought to be 60,000 years ago, but we have two haplgroups which came before A, namely A0 and A00. The A00 haplogroup lived ~338,000 years ago, but could range anywhere between 246,000- 563,000 years ago. Regardless, this is an astounding find and to know that one of our FTDNA administrators, Bonnie Schrack, was instrumental in calling this to the attention of the geneticists is an outstanding example of the value of citizen scientists. Several people throughout the world contributed to the cost of WTY tests and were thanked by Bonnie. This find is truly an important moment in history!

Elise Friedman

Yesterday’s Breakout Groups were repeated today to allow people to attend at least two. I attended Elise Friedman’s group entitled Advanced Group Administration Techniques as a review and to see if there was information new to me. Without seeing the pages here it would be difficult to describe various aspects. I suggest that everyone take the Interactive Tour, read the FAQs, click on the FTQL (Family Tree Query Language for compound searches) and the Help icon found on all pages.

A few basics she covered:
1. Go to MY ACCOUNT and click on SETTINGS. Check the boxes you want shown on the left. DISPLAY SETTINGS on the right control what you see. The bottom of MY SETTINGS has settings for different report pages.
2. You can create a different email address for each project if you have more than one. Just add your email address on the CONTACT PAGE and select one for default.
3. Important: Go to PROJECT ADMINISTRATION and then click on MANAGING PROJECT. Fill in the blanks, but click on SHOW SURNAME even if your project isn’t a surname project. This way it is shown in the list of projects.
4. If you use counters or other logos or icons, put those under JAVASCRIPT.
5. You can also click on the results page and move members from one subgroup to another, but only in the regular results; not in classic or color.
5. On the results page you can highlight one line. I asked for 2-3 to be highlighted and maybe in different colors. This, in my opinion will help with comparing.
6. ACTIVITY LOG is new and shows changes in your projects.
7. It is very important to read the Project Administrators Guidelines and adhere to them.

Rory Van Tuyl’s presentation entitled A Tale of Two Families – Findings from the FTDNA Surname Project Van Tuyl showed how he used Monte Carol simulation and the Walsh Infinite Alleles Theory to show that there was no constant mutation rate. He suggests that using similarities rather than differences is a powerful analytical technique and not to try to estimate TMRCA from Y-STR data.

Elliott Greenspan

Elliott Greenspan’s presentation entitled IT Road Map covered the accomplishments of this last year and the goals for the coming year. In 2010 FTDNA processed 250 terabytes and in 2011 they processed 2.33 Petabytes of matching data. The latter translates into 16.8 million segments. This is 50 times more data than last year. FTDNA has run over 5 million individual tests of all types over the years. The General Fund Invoice Payment was added along with SNP Maps and 23andMe uploads. As previously mentioned in this blog, FTDNA will allow uploads of Ancestry’s data as soon as it is available. The “about me” section of the Personal Profile was added and is view-able by your matches when they click on your profile. Advanced Matches was added in order to compare two different tests at the same time.

The coming year’s goals are quite extensive and very welcomed:
1. FTDNA will go to Build 37 which is GRAND!
2. Microalleles will be coming on GAP charts.
3. Palindromic matches will be added in DYS 459,464 and CDY which will appear as one mutation as they are one event.
4. New mtDNA haplogroups will see some changes when Geno 2.0 begins getting results.
5. As the home page causes confusion for new members, the pages will be updated probably in December with items people have not done such as uploading a Gedcom being highlighted.
6. More badges like Niall of the Nine Hostages will be available.
7. Uploaded Gedcoms will be searchable and allow for direct input of data.
8. FTDNA will upgrade Population Finder by adding more populations more often and will have chromosome painting.
9. FTDNA will have X chromosome matching and browser, but will be different than that of Family Finder as it is inherited differently.
10. You will be able to select five matches and push to your chromosome browser page.
11. There will be more filter options so you can filter by blocks in Chromosome Browser to see all matches on that block. Blocks must be at least 4cM and start and end in the same block.
12. Restrictions on “In Common With” will be removed.
13. Many of us have asked for phasing over the last couple of years and is it coming! YEAH!!! There will be two types of phasing depending upon the availability of testing parents.
14. Various apps for androids, iPhones, etc. will be added.
15. FTDNA developers plan to work with a group of customers with tech skills…a developer sandbox.
16. FTDNA will remove the five person limit for Family Finder downloads so all can be downloaded at one time into CVS or Excel files. EVERYONE clapped!

What a wonderful list for the coming year!

FTDNA cautioned against using Gedmatch as it shows your matches names. FTDNA cannot control customers who do this, but feel it could come back to bite you and can cause outside regulation. They suggested we do not take cM blocks seriously without other supporting information. They were firm about data mining not being available because of security and people who “connect the dots.” FTDNA is not planning to drop the 12 and 25 marker test so that those who need to start small can do so.

AND…at the end of the conference FTDNA announced its Holiday Sale earlier than expected. See my previous post for the sale items and prices. The sale ends 31 December 2012 and is a great opportunity to upgrade, to add new tests, or to become a first-time tester with the largest genetic genealogy company!

On Monday, FTDNA offered three tours of their “state of the art” lab in Houston. The equipment automation is amazing, and seeing the process to get our DNA results is fascinating. The weekly cost of some of the disposable items is astounding! It is clear why the time and cost we incur is what it is.

No doubt I omitted some information from this lengthy blog. For that reason, I suggest you also read Roberta J. Estes’ blog DNAeXplained.

Can anyone doubt that history isn't being made on the monumental level?

16 November 2012

Although we make history daily, only at monumental times do we realize it. This year at theFamily Tree DNA Conference, every one realized the history being made.

As usual on Friday, FTDNA provided a large room with a no-host bar where everyone rekindled old friendships and met new attendees. We could register during this time or Saturday morning. Our registration packet included a nice FTDNA carry bag, a conference logo T-shirt, pen, and Richard Hill’s new book Finding Family My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA. I reviewed this book earlier on this blog. It is an excellent book for genetic genealogists, adoptees, and for the general public. A must read!

Bennett Greenspan

In Bennett Greenspan’s welcome gave us a bit of the company’s history. They were the first to offer DNA testing for genealogy in 2000 after Bennett dogged Dr. Michael Hammer into doing a 12 marker test on him and Dr. Hammer suggested that someone needed to start a company as people kept asking him about testing for genealogy. Bennett also informed us that his corporation had been reorganized a bit and is now is called Gene by Gene which has under it several companies: Family Tree DNA for Ancestry, DNA Traits for Health, DNADTC for Research, and DNAFindings for Paternity. I spoke of monumental times in history...here’s one: The DNADTC division is the first commercial company to offer a full genome sequence test! The price is $5495, but we know that will be lower in a few years. For the Exome, your 20,000 genes, the cost is $695. This is remarkable as it is a genetic genealogy company making this available to the public first and the entire genome was only sequenced in 2003 at the cost of 3 billion dollars. We have come a long way and are moving quickly! Congratulations to FTDNA for another first!Other statistics for Family Tree DNA is that have purchased 1.5 million vials for testing since conception; they are processing 500 samples a day and sometimes through the weekend; is involved in Next-Generation Sequencing; will have easier to open vials; and have new automated machines to remove tedious tasks for workers.

Dr. Spencer Wells

Dr. Spencer Wells who heads the National Genographic Project talk with the group via Skype from Florence Italy where he was introducing the Geno 2.0 test which has sections on “Your Story”, “Our Story”, and “The Human Story”. He mentioned that “Genetic genealogy is changing hyper-exponentially”. His presentation gave an overview of the AIMs chip and how it was vetted as well as a view of the website which is still evolving. The goals include determining more population details for those who are labeled 100% of a certain population, especially including Native American and differentiating between Native American and Asian. See my review of Geno 2.0 on this blog. Watch for a paper on Genographic about repopulating the Middle East.One of the most exciting features of Geno 2.0 is that citizen scientists can conduct a “community led events”. If you have a group, such as the Mennonites or other particular cultural group, you could apply to Genographic for conducting a study under the community led event. Dr. Wells would not indicate how many kits have been sold so far as this is still the initial release (soft launch), but mentioned that significantly more than 10k kits have been sold and significantly less than 100k.

Judy Russell, JD, CGSM

Next was Judy Russell,the Legal Genealogist, is a genealogist with a law degree. Her topic was Regulating Genetic Genealogy - Does It Make Sense? Of all the presenters we have had in the past to speak to ethical questions and problems in this field, Judy delivered the most clear and most reasonable argument for regulating ourselves, for placing disclaimers on our project sites, for not misrepresenting our field, and she encouraged us to do all this so we would not be regulated by any government arm. Judy tells us that the FDA is not interested in genetic genealogy, but in disease risk. The Federal Trade Commission is concerned for “truth in advertising”…is what is promised being delivered? She states that we need to rein in the charlatans as those are the ones who will cause regulation. She clarified that AncestryDNA can give your DNA to anyone they contract or companies who buy them out; no warranties. Of 23andMe she states that the company will still use your surveys and genetic info even if you drop them and they do not need your consent on using it for publication. Russell says that signing over your DNA for any company to use can come under FDA interest. She says FTDNA does not have these issues at all. You must sign a release form for sharing your name and email with your matches. Check the contracts before you test. Judy Russell recommends we check the disclosure on the Melungeon Core project at FTDNA as it is a good example of disclosure and have something similar for all of our projects. GINA (Genetic Information and Non-discrimination Act of 2008) is very limited and broad in protecting us with regard to DNA testing. It only covers employment and health care. It does not apply to life insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care.Some DNA companies (ex: Connect DNA) uses CODIS values and even suggests you put your results on Facebook! Some states arrest for misdemeanors which put your DNA in CODIS and some states now use familiar DNA such as in the Grim Sleeper case. The UK uses familial DNA. Other tips she shared: Do NOT sign release forms for others; don’t test someone without their consent. If caught, this will cause regulation by the government. Remember that any piece of legislation can be repealed or modified. Testing your whole genome and disclosing it discloses information for your relatives who have not given consent. In summary: Make ethical decisions, respect privacy of others; do informed consent; and educate the public regarding DNA testing. The bottom line is: If we don’t make better decisions, others will do it for us.Question to Judy on testing dead relatives who had a previous test prompted the answer that if there is a child, you are not the heir to decide further testing. (FTDNA does have a page which allows a beneficiary for your DNA, but that email must be updated. There are forms which can be signed by a notary before a tester dies to give permission to someone to manage their DNA. Email me for a copy.)
I had the opportunity of speaking with her at the ISOGG gathering Saturday night and she is a commonsense and knowledgeable person. Such a delight!

Dr. Thomas Krahn

Three break-out groups were available covering information on the Advanced Group Administrators Techniques by Elise Friedman of Relative Roots (more on Elise's presentation tomorrow), on Family Finder by CeCe Moore, and Walk the Y Update by Dr. Thomas Krahn of Family Tree DNA. All were very informative, of course.

Dr. Tim Janzen

CeCe Moore covered the basics of autosomal testing starting with cell structure and walked through several of the pages showing how to download data from the Chromosome Browser. She mentioned to calculate the shared percentage of your genome divide the total cMs by 68. See FTDNA’s FAQ on Family Finder for great information as well as taking the tutorial on your personal website. The most exciting part of the presentation was from Rob Warthen who has a tool to download all your Family Finder matches at once, something many of us have strived to have FTDNA do (and they did decide to do so!). CeCe covered what many of us are now doing on testing various family members and mapping our chromosomes to determine what segments come from what ancestor as was presented by Dr. Tim Janzen.
Dr. Krahn mentioned that no one from haplogroups B, D, M, and S have done Walk The Y and they would really like to get someone from each. There have been 494 WTY participants and only 198 did not find a new SNP. Some of these presentations will be available at FTDNA, perhaps all.

Dr. Tyrone Bowes

Dr. Tyrone Bowes of Irish Origenes spoke on Pinpointing a Geographical Location. His company has detailed maps on Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. He suggests that you can use low-level matches (12 and 25 markers) to see where those names lived in one of these countries and narrow the locations to what is most likely. Check all spellings and locations from castles to clan mapping as place names may reflect early inhabitants and areas where people were when they picked surnames. Once a chief of a clan is gone, people could take a new surname. Townlands lead to surnames. Know the history. He does consulting on this in his business.

In the Question and Answer period included these:
1. Drugs, alcohol, radiation, etc. are more likely to cause a null (no marker results) than a different allele. Blood transfusions would require you to wait weeks to test UNLESS you are VERY careful in scraping to not get any blood on the swab. It’s really safer to wait.
2. If you have few or no matches it is probably a coincidence so wait until the database grows. The database does have gaps as you can’t get DNA out of some countries, such as China. DNA has been sent surreptitiously from Russia so that is another area of concern.
3. When Geno 2.0 is eventually offered through FTDNA for existing samples to be used, there needs to be an unopened vial.
4. Geno 2.0 is the closest thing to the full genome (for now), but does not have as high resolution ad would not show private mutations.
5. Niall of the Nine Hostages has four sub-groups and Geno may show which is the dominate line
6. FTDNA is going to Build 37 in the next two months or so which adds 3-4,000 new SNPs in the Family Finder chip and the X-chromosome browser is coming.
7. FTDNA has 500,000 vials in storage currently, and transfers from other companies are going great.
8. FTDNA anticipates uploading Ancestry raw autosomal data when Ancestry allows customers to download their raw data.
9. In the next version, Palendromic matches will be counted as one mutation event as it actually happens as one event.

13 November 2012

As I just returned from the 8th Family Tree DNA International Conference in Houston, I am probably one of the last to post the Holiday Sale. At the end of the last day the following was announced and Monday morning every tester received an email. However, as may of these tests are for new testers, it is up to all of us to spread the news! And wonderful news it is. These are some very nice savings!

You can order a test by clicking on the FTDNA icon in the lower right of this blog. If you are ordering an upgrade just login with your kit number and password. If you are new to testing with Family Tree DNA, you can search for your surname on the home page or you can join one of my projects that accepts any tester (male and female) by entering GFO in the search engine on the home page. Even though you are in one of my projects and you can then receive help from me, you can join other projects once you get results.

To order this special offer, log in to your personal page and click on the Order An Upgrade button in the upper right corner. A link to the login page is provided below. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2012 11:59:00 PM CST TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICES.Don't miss this great sale!

07 November 2012

Many people hold family reunions over the summer months. Few, if any, hold such a gathering for their Y-DNA projects. I did for the Talley-Tally Y-DNA Project.

The idea of a Talley-Tally-Tolley Gathering began over a year ago in conjunction with the establishment of a new sources website and the death of one of our researchers.

Backstory
I operate an e-mail list for anyone interested in researching or who has tested for the surname, any spelling. This is a one-way email from me to the group which notifies list members when a new candidate has tested, when test results have appeared, when there are sales on testing, and other information related to DNA testing. On this e-mail list we share lineages for the testers with the details of birth, death, marriage and spouses. We do not share current information or maiden names of mothers whose children are living as that can be used for financial records. Creating such a list builds provides multiple contacts for research and builds a bond within the group.

When one of our Talley researchers died and left piles of papers for us to sort, three local members of our e-mail list gathered to divide the work. One of our sorters, Lorraine, suggested putting Talley-Tally information on site accessible to group members. I had been considering such a plan, but this was the first time I discussed having a site where the testers’ lineages and the sources for each generation could be displayed and where additional, hard-to-find records could be stored. I was greatly encouraged to establish this site and the work began.

I found the perfect volunteer, Gene Talley of Texas, who helped me research every one of our testers and without whom this sources site would not have existed. He created some wonderful flow charts which show connections to a common ancestor where known. This work took countless hours and over a year and a half to complete, but we were able to justify some lineages as they were sent to me, add up to three generations to some, and reduce a few generations that were not solidly proven or were wrong. For the latter we wrote a page or two providing circumstantial evidence of parenthood. The goal was to find good sources for the father-son relationship in the lineage along with the birth, marriage, and death for the direct Talley-Tally-Tolley line. Of course, like all projects, there were a few people who did not share their lineage or who have died without sharing. Overall, the vast majority of our testers’ lines are proven with good sources and now on the new website.

The Gathering
During all this, I began planning for a Talley DNA “Reunion”. Anyone who had tested, who researches the surname, or anyone our members could drag off the street with a connection to the surname were welcomed.

William H. Talley III

One of our members, Bill Talley III, suggested we meet at the local country club in Petersburg, Virginia as the room was free to us and as this area is one of the major locations where our Talley and Tallys first lived. It was decided that we would meet for two days and for the third everyone could explore the area or visit various family locations or research libraries.

George M. Talley, Sr.'s Miniatures

Karen Talley

Our gathering included all the elements of a DNA conference and a reunion. I created several presentations to explain the various DNA tests, our new sources website, triangulation, quality research, and others. Attendees brought posters to show-case their family as well as gifts for a raffle. George M. Talley showcased his amazing, hand-made miniature furniture which has moving parts including drawers that open. Our wonderful activities chair, Karen Talley, and I acquired additional raffle items from various vendors valuing up to $150 for the top item. The money earned from the raffle was split between those groups in attendance to further test their lines. Each person also received a "goody bag" with several flyers on local sites, discount coupons on Talley Vineyard wines and DNA tests, copies of Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy, a mouse pad designed specifically for our gathering, and pens and pencils with Talley-Tally-Tolley Gathering printed on them.

Deceased Testers

Time was given in the agenda to recognize those testers who had died, and Karen compiled very nice poster which included each person's DNA Group number, dates of birth and death, a photo, and their oldest Talley-Tally ancestor.

Larry McMahan

Larry McMahan, volunteer at the Jefferson Library and husband of Sue Talley McMahan and Karen's uncle, was our guest speaker for dinner Wednesday night. His wonderful presentation entitled Thomas Jefferson’s World and his video gave much insight into Mr. Jefferson’s life at Monticello.

Group 02 Workshop

As the new sources website with the testers' lineages was complete (more sources records will be added in the future), I provided room in the agenda to hold a couple of workshops so the members of each DNA group could work together to further the lineage and the DNA testing. Each person shared their contact information as well as their online and local resources. The groups were asked to view the lineages on the new sources website and determine what information is missing and where further testing is needed. Of course, not everyone in the group knows their proven common ancestor, but these workshops started a dialogue to help with that goal. Each group chose a leader who will report progress to me so any updates can be added to the sources site. For those who could not attend, they have been given the same opportunity to share their resources and help with the research.

The gathering was held October 3-4 at the Petersburg Country Club in Virginia. The two largest DNA groups had representatives which lead me to believe that the economic times and health situations prevented some of the smaller groups from coming. I do know these issues were the causes for some absences. Those who came decided that since DNA Groups 1 and 2 of the project are very probably related in the mid-1600's they would work within their group as well as help the other group.

It was wonderful to meet so many cousins, and I’m sure they felt the same meeting each other. It was grand to put faces on those names and e-mail addresses over these many years. I had known a few people through correspondence since the mid 1990’s, but had only met one before this gathering. The humor and wit of many of the family members, the practicality of their decisions, and just being in the same room with so many cousins was a joy for me. Hopefully, they took away from that time something new in the way of DNA and researching as well as fond memories of their distant cousins.

Liz and Floyd Talley

I also have to thank the attendees for the kind recognition award they gave me. I'm most proud that it was engraved by Performance Awards, a business owned by my genealogical cousin Floyd Talley. Performance Awards is located at 17 S Wahsatch Ave, Colorado Springs, CO; phone: 719-635-3303

AND...someone even asked when the next gathering would be….

Thanks to everyone who made this possible and for all of those who attended!

04 November 2012

Genetic Genealogy has become a very popular pursuit among genealogists, and many are now blogging to help others understand DNA testing and to keep the public updated on this fast-paced field.

Recently Terry Barton suggested that each of us should post this list of the top blogs. I'm very honored to be included and to be among such distinguished bloggers in this field.

As each of us has a different audience and a different focus, those interested, as well as the general public, would be wise to follow at least several, if not all, of these blogs. Although some appear to be focused on a particular surname, each has great information on genetic genealogy in general.

These bloggers are well known in the field and most attend the Family Tree DNA Conference in Houston each year while a few attend the Who Do You Think You Are? Conference in London yearly. This gives all of us the opportunity of knowing each other and highly recommending their work.

Emily Aulicino

Genetic Genealogist

Welcome to My Genetic Genealogy Blog

Genetic Genealogy is a wonderful resource for the family genealogist or historian and is growing daily! From time to time I will post URLs and books that can be helpful. My blog is my personal venture and is selective in its contents. It is not a reflection of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy.

I am the Northwest Regional Coordinator for the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG*) and manage twelve DNA Projects and several email lists on Rootsweb and Yahoo. I am available to speak at any function regarding Genetic Genealogy and on writing one's memories and family stories. ......For my DNA Projects, I prefer using Family Tree DNA. You can order a test kit by clicking on the FTDNA logo below.

You are welcome to email me at: aulicino@hevanet.com using the Blog's name in the subject line, if you have any comments or questions.

-------*ISOGG is a non-profit organization designed solely to promote and educate the public about DNA testing in regard to genealogy. Membership is free, but tell them that Emily sent you! See: www.isogg.org --------------

Best wishes and visit often,Emily

Presentation Topics

Introduction to Genetic Genealogy: DNA Your Paper Trail

Autosomal DNA and Chromosome Mapping

Becoming a DNA Project Manager

Care and Feeding of a DNA Project

Establishing a DNA Interest Group

Writing Your Childhood and Family Memories: A simple technique

NOTE: Custom Topics available upon request

Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond by Emily D. Aulicino

Order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and AuthorHouse

Publish at AuthorHouse

Family Tree DNA - Click Logo to order a test

To Order at DNA test kit from FTDNA through this blog

...1. Click on the FTDNA icon search button (above)....2. Enter the _(your surname here)_ surname in the upper right where it says: SEARCH...3. On the next page, click on the surname you chose in #2....4. Follow any instructions. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on JOIN.

NOTE: If you are not certain there is a DNA project for your surname or if you are only testing your mtDNA (female line), put the name: CAMPANIA in the search field. This is one of my projects, and I will find you an appropriate project when your results arrive...........You want to join through a project to get the cheapest rates.

To subscribe, click on POST arrow.

Followers

Presentations

.....Presentations for both the Genetic Genealogy and for the writing sessions are normally two hours, but can be adapted. I prefer an computer projector for with a screen and a table for displaying my DNA book and/or writing booklet......Your group can photocopy the handouts or I will do so for $.05 per side. If speaking within the general area of Portland, Oregon I do not charge for mileage or travel expenses. Outside of the general Portland area, I do require the IRS amount of $.56 per mile. If I need to stay over night, a motel room or staying with a non-smoking female will be necessary......Although, as a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogists (ISOGG), I cannot ask for a speaker's fee for the Genetic Genealogy presentations, but I can accept an honorarium. This is not the case with the writing classes. $75 is the standard.Email: aulicino@hevanet.com

Recommendations and Compliments

Genetic Genealogy

"Emily Aulicino is one of the most dynamic people I know. Her energy and enthusiasm has helped make Oregon the largest member per capita region in all of ISOGG. Emily’s educator background is apparent and complimentary to her speaking engagements which create a presentation that is easy-to-understand for any novice. Her reputation has made her an immensely popular speaker throughout the Pacific Northwest which has resulted in nationwide requests. Emily is a proven leader who welcomes a challenge. She manages many people and projects with skill and ability that can only be innate. I have the utmost confidence that Emily will excel at any task presented to her and I look forward to many more years working with her."-------Katherine Borges, Director of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG)

Unsolicited Comments:

Barbara in Washington wrote:I just wanted to touch base with you and tell you how impressed I was with your lectures today. They were fun and up, and you were able to explain the DNA process to me in terms that I could understand.

"Memoing" My Memories

130 Topic Booklet for Sale

"Memoing" My Memories - Unsolicited Testimony

Rhonda in Oregon writes:The writing tip you gave us Thursday is great! I went right to my stash of journals (I have trouble journaling, but love the books!), and made a page for every year since my birth year.I’m very excited to start writing my memories down. Thanks again for a fantastic tip!!

Anne in Michigan writes:"So many times I have sat down and tried to write out my life's story. I got so bored with myself that I never got more than a few pages done. This method has totally changed my outlook and has renewed my lifelong interest to write about my life so that my children will have something to remember me by.I am psyched, pumped and ready to go now!”

Beth in Texas writes:“I am finding the topics very helpful in writing about things I would have never thought about before. These topics give me an opportunity not to dwell on the unhappy times in my life, and remember some of the less important, but memorable topics that I'd like to pass on to my children. I'll still write about unhappy times, but they will be sprinkled in with other memories.”

Jan in Kentucky writes:“Emily, you do so very much for so many, and it is so appreciated! You also have broken my writing block, and I appreciate that...if not for you, I don't know that I would have had the heart to return to it. You truly are doing a lot of good with that list of yours and the effects will be known for years and generations for so many. I think sometimes we just need to tell you that.”

Bob in Sherwood, Oregon writes:THANKS to you I started writing my "story" last Friday. If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have started it. It's all your fault...You, You, "Inspirator", You! Telling usto write in "pictures". If I started it prior to your presentation it would have begun... "I was born on October 29, 1944 in Jamestown, New York". Needless to say you had a GREAT impact on my writing.

Bill in New Jersey writes:Just a short note to says thanks to you, Emily, for the prompts. I especially like the way in which you write the suggestions to go along with the prompts.

Books About Childhood Memories and Family Stories

As most of you know I seldom read fiction, and as a result, I am interested in books that are historical in nature and/or tell the stories of people's lives. The following list is some books that I have read which are by people I know, people who are related to me, people I have met, and people with whom I've corresponded for a time. Proudly, I have each author's autograph, and I'm beginning to think of this as a new collection/hobby of mine! .

Each of these stories have great struggles and challenges. Some are of childhood while others occurred when the author was an adult. I hope that you will find them interesting as I have. They are truly a slice of our American Life!

Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder by Mary Pacios

Son of Scarface: A Memoir by the Grandson of Al Capone by Chris W. Knight

Run Jane Run: A True Story of Murder and Courage by Jane Wells

Somehow, We'll Survive: Life in Japan During World War II Through The Eyes of a Young Caucasian Boy by George Sidline

About Me

Emily is available for Presentations regarding Writing Your Family Memories and Childhood Stories.
----- Learn to WRITE ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY MEMORIES using a quick and simple technique. Learn various organizational ideas and writing tips. ------- BOOK FOR SALE on writing your memories at workshops or by mail (Spiral bound; 144 pages on heavy vellum; 130 topics with writing tips and organizational ideas).
Emily is also available to give presentations on Genetic Genealogy. See the following blog for more information: http://genealem-geneticgenealogy.blogspot.com/
--------- EMAIL for further details on either topic:
aulicino@hevanet.com